fisherman trying to outsmart a wily trout
a designer sketching a fashion layout
a minister writing a sermon
a poet capturing a metaphor
an engineer tinkering with a problematic device
a twelve-year-old kid "playing" endlessly with graphics software
What all these folks have in common is that they're learning, exploring, breaking-through barriers, generating ideas, rejecting ideas, solving problems, identifying opportunities, making judgments, receiving input from others and their senses, experimenting, trying, failing, trying again. In other words, they're creating works of art, experiences, inventions, pictures, words, relationships, music, recipes, fun, and self-fulfillment.
Every one of them is exercising the art of creativity, because that's what we do. It comes with the territory of being a human being. We create. We are creative beings. We create because it helps us survive and it feels good. It brings us some type of joy and fulfillment. When we don't create, when we don't learn and grow, it brings us pain. It deadens us. When this innate urge to create is thwarted or stifled, we turn to unhealthy substitutes. Because we have the innate propensity to create, we must create. Our focus should be on baby steps and small or little -c creativity because that's all we can control and that's where the fun is. As we learn more and more ways to generate ideas and express our unique combination of talents, skills and life experiences, we might earn a big-C Creativity label.
And by the way in case you are wondering, you don’t actually need permission to create. And you certainly don’t need other people to give you permission to create.
You have innate creative ideas and a spark. You have the supplies. You have the ideas. You have the will power. Hopefully, you have the support system in place. You have EVERYTHING you need to fill your life and yourself with your creative dreams. So create!!
But you may say I am simply not creative. I am not in my God-given creative zone. I lost it.
I mentioned in my recent book: Wisdom Keys on Releasing Your Creative Potential that your mind is a divine deposit given to you by your creator. Your mind’s capacity increases enlarges and multiplies with use. Have you ever had the saying that your worth and value in life is essentially a product of the use of your mind? You see man is a unique creature and possesses unusual endowment. It is true that your thoughts hold the key to your life. Therefore the need for mental reformation and a constant realization about the incredible power of a spirited mind cannot be overemphasized.
Your mind acts as a pivot around which your whole existence revolves. It is essentially where thinking take place. It is impossible to think one thing and produce another. A happy and productive life results from correct thinking. While an unhappy and unproductive life results from incorrect or negative thinking. It is as simple as that. With the appropriate use of your mind you can produce the changes you desire. A productive life demands engaging your mind and senses positively.
Everyone is a person of great value but your value is essentially a function of the use to which you put your mind to. When you become mentally grounded you automatically become valueless. At the point of insanity a man’s entire dignity is eroded. His entire value is lost. He cannot use his mind constructively. This gives you an idea of the place of your mind in determining your value in life. Think for one second about creativity. Creativity demands and requires the use of your mind. Your mind is the factor that makes you relevant to the world.
Think for one second. How much is your mind worth to you? What will your mind do for another who is privileged to glean from it? What will your mind bring to them “if they practice what is hidden within its corridors?
Is it that hard to imagine great exploits being naturally exhibited from within you – by your inspired mind? Can you see yourself “being, doing, and creating great things and great possibilities? Have you determined how much your steps are worth? What is the nature of the lifestyles of those who seek the wisdom of your mind? What are they doing? What are they “attempting” to do? What did you invest today in your incredible mind?
There are pertinent question to start our journey in the discovery of your incredible mind.
The mind is the common creative tool given to all human beings by the creator. What is so interesting about this common creative tool given by the creator is that he himself places great importance and significance to the role of the mind.
So the next time someone spontaneously uses the phrase “you are out of your mind”? Your respond should be Yes and No. Yes because you know deep within that been of your mind simply means you are connected with other sources of yourself. You are creative and NO because no one in the material world ever wants to be out of their minds for a long time. Do you?
CHAPTER TWO
- Creativity Really Matters -
The seasons of your life will literally shift and propel forward every time we use our creative abilities and decide to dig deeper within and release the treasuries out.
-Dr. Jasmine Renner
The truth is that what really matters is often subjective given the fact that individuals may find themselves in varying circumstances and seasons of their lives. Life happens sometimes and so to dictate what really matters will be an attempt in folly. However, permit me to make an exception in this case and suggest to you that as naturally endued creative beings, creativity really matters at this crucial point in humanity.
You may say why so? I am so busy and transitioning in my life right now. I got bills to pay, kids to take care of, assignments to fulfill etc. But think for a moment what if it was suggested that because you are so busy please stop breathing. Simply cut your breathe off. Can you? What will be your genuine response to this? My guess is that you may pause and say hmmm are you really out of your mind. Me stop breathing, can’t do that?
Well may I suggest to you that creativity is really in essence who you are. Not been creative is analogous to being out of breathe because creativity is really akin to the act of breathing in a human being. You take it away; you take your material life away. You are physically gone!! Think about it. You cannot stop breathing and still live. In the same way you cannot stop being creative and still live a full live. You were wired that way whether or not you are aware of it or not.
Often times we think of creativity in terms of having a big or major breakthrough in some areas of novel discovery but no? As I mentioned previously, a teacher connecting with students in a powerful, transforming way, an entrepreneur working long hours building a business a dancer learning a complicated routine, a rock climber inching up a challenging crevas, a parent planning a birthday party, a lawyer researching an obscure case a jazz pianist composing are all creating works of art, experiences, inventions, pictures, words, relationships, music, recipes, fun, and in some cases self-fulfillment.
But wait, have you ever given yourself the permission to create lately? By create I mean the little things that seem to be mundane. For examples as a cook have you lately experimented with an unusual seasoning; as a designer have you sketched a fashion layout; you are on a fishing escapade with your son as a fisherman have you tried to outsmart that wily trout.
What about you giving your message a little tweak and spin and some creative juice that you know will literally bless or transform someone in your church today? What about your two-year-old
